It's hard to ignore hard data.

I've talked to many intelligent men, who have an excuse for every individual "item" with the sub-total being "I don't have to change my life or worry -- everything is fine."

One man told me that "we had high interest rates in the early 80's, a stock market crash, etc." and he didn't think that housing would wreck our economy. Well, it's wrecking it as we speak.

Perhaps the secret is to be able to "put it all together" and see the big picture.

Anyhow, let's see anyone claim that everything is fine, when the US Dollar is doing this:

(Roughly a graph of what the US dollar is "worth", compared to other currencies)

It's like criticizing "chicken little" for getting all excited, when thousands of asteroids are hitting cities all over the globe.

Sometimes the doom & gloomers are right. And sometimes the prophets of doom are NOT depressed old men with psychological problems.

In my case, I'm a (relatively) young father of a family with a wife and 2 wonderful children so far -- let's just say I'm far from "giving up on life". HOWEVER -- I'm willing to admit the truth when it stares me in the face.

In other words, some "doom & gloomers" are only taking on that role by necessity (i.e., because they care about those around them, and they see "doom" coming as a certainty!), not because of their pessimistic nature.

Matthew